Tourism. Trends. Tactics. Technology.

April 27, 2018

Brand USA is the Destination Marketing Organization for America. Each year, they feature this country through a thematic lens. Last year it was in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service. This year, it's the Music that makes America America.

April 26, 2018

Congressional inquiries are nothing more than the ability for legislators to showboat their "power" to make things change. They capitalize on citizen concern regarding an issue, call the accused parties to testify and...then what?

They saw the opportunity to haul Mark Zuckerberg in front of the panel because people were concerned about data privacy. They asked a bunch of fairly unsophisticated questions...and, the result?

April 25, 2018

From this year's battle in the Florida House of Representatives to local communities across the land, it is not uncommon to see politicians challenge Destination Marketing Organizations on the amount of money they invest into professional staff.

Such attitudes may have made sense during the last century when Destination Marketing focused a lot of its attention on the purchase of visibility in print and electronic media. But, today's DMOs have evolved into a highly staff-dependent program of work that moves the ball with content generation, Social Media engagement and community story-telling. And, the talent required for this kind of advanced marketing doesn't come cheap.

But, that's what makes unsophisticated public officials crazy...as many don't believe what DMO pros do is all that hard. After all, many ran their own campaigns (and, oddly enough, won). Thus, they know (they think) marketing.

Next time someone suggests that staff compensation should be limited to some arbitrary figure that sounds good, I'd love for someone to ask why personnel compensation makes up such a high percentage of the Police Department's budget.

You want the best of the best protecting residents? You should want the best of the best inviting future residents and investors to town.

April 24, 2018

As of last month, four New York cabbies had committed suicide because of mounting financial pressures brought about by the explosion of ride-sharing platforms such as Uber and Lyft. And, much of the blame can be laid at the feet of City officials.

Tightly regulated, cabbies used to fight for a limited number of "medallions" that would give them the right to drive a taxi and make $200 a day. Only 13,600 medallions are issued...but, with 63,000 disruptive ride-sharing drivers now on the streets, many cabbies say they're lucky to make $50 a day.

Disruption. It's all shits and grins until somebody shoots themselves on the steps of City Hall.

While we love the convenience and experience of ride-sharing, we can't ignore that there is a dark side to disruption.

April 23, 2018

According to Meriam-Webster, "Ham-Handed" is a term that means "lacking dexterity or grace." As they say in the South, "bless their heart."

What it really means is "awkward, clumsy and heavy-handed. And, an example would be the Hawaii Senate. Upon receipt of a scathing audit of the Hawaii Tourism Authority's alleged lack of procurement policies and controls, the Legislature there is considering slashing the State's Tourism Budget by roughly a third. Apparently, the Authority needs to be "punished" for its alleged transgressions.

I haven't the slightest idea whether the auditors found real wrong-doing or whether they simply didn't understand how a Destination Marketing Organization works. But, that Hawaii's Toureism Economy has been breaking records would indicate that arbitrarily slashing DMO funding would be a back-assward response, n'est-pas?

Hey, you want to punish an agency? Order that they must adhere to more stringent rules. Cutting its budget does nothing but hurt the local businesses that depend upon the HTA's work.

Of course, that logic doesn't provide you with an opportunity to raid HTA funds for your pet projects, does it?

April 20, 2018

There have been some odd opening acts for concert headliners over the years. Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees. The Doors opening for Simon & Garfunkel. And, Bruce Springsteen opening for Anne Murray.

I recently stumbled upon a poster for a 1977 concert by Foreigner ($5.50 tickets in advance)...with the opening act of AC/DC.

April 16, 2018

To have a locally loved icon voice a spot promoting your DMO's website sounds like a dream come true. And, depending how much of a sense of humor you have when it comes to double-entendres, maybe not so much.

“Yes sir, you go to explorestlouis.com, they’re going to tell you about a blow job. That’s right. Artisans will appreciate the local handmade works of art at the Third Degree Glass Factory. Glass-blowing demonstrated..."

If nothing else, the media attention to the "toss-off" quote was worth every penny.

April 12, 2018

What's happened this week in Myrtle Beach will likely be remembered as the moment in time when community leaders there decided that it was time, once again, to lead.

Indeed, it was community leadership (both public and private) that set the tone and the table for Myrtle Beach to become one of the premier destinations in the country over the past 30 years. And then, not unlike in other communities across the nation, they suffered silently as the media and agenda-fueled wingnuts took potshot after potshot at them.

Old school public and community relations wonks told all of us to "turn the other cheek;" that, by engaging in a tit-for-tat confrontation in front of an audience that doesn't understand the nuance of community development, you do nothing more than fuel the fire and keep the issue alive. Nothing could be further from the truth. We'll go deeper on this concept in next week's edition of the Z-News (if you're not already a subscriber, you can join our family HERE).

To recap the story: On Tuesday, the City approved a 10-year extension of a penny sales tax that has provided an 82% property tax rebate to residents and powered the region's tourism industry and job growth to record heights. The approval came after the Mayor's rejection of a call from a small minority (less than 400 people signed an online petition) for the question to be put to referendum.

Timed to coincide with this week's vote, a disgruntled ex-Chamber member brought a lawsuit against the Chamber of Commerce (which holds the Destination Marketing contract with the City) alleging misuse of tax revenues and "cronyism." Naturally, the media jumps all over the story, splattering the Chamber and several of its local contractors with incendiary innuendo.

And then, the Chamber Board did something totally out-of-character for a body that had been proud of its ability to turn the other cheek...it pushed back. Hard. In a 15-minute news conference (starting at the 9:30 mark), several members of the Chamber Board punched back with the truth. If you're short on time, start at the 23:40 mark. Game on.

But, of course, the damage has been done. The community can't un-hear these allegations. But, the free pass to slander community leaders that Chamber and City critics have enjoyed for the past few years has just been revoked.

April 11, 2018

We mentioned here yesterday that the Myrtle Beach Mayor and City Council stood up to public and editorial criticism this week by extending a penny sales tax without hiding behind a Referendum. The Mayor and Council did what they were elected to do...govern in the best interests of the citizenry. And, for those too unsophisticated (or agenda-laden) to understand why this was such a powerfully positive move by elected officials, let me fill in the gaps.

A decade ago, as the economy was heading over the cliff, the City of Myrtle Beach enacted a penny sales tax that invested 80% of the revenue into increased destination marketing while giving residents an 82% rebate on their property taxes. The increase in destination marketing resources resulted in Myrtle Beach scoring record levels of visitation (even during the Recession). The beauty of the property tax rebate is sorta self-explanatory.

Except when it isn't. Except when the media gives voice to those that try to position the rebate as unfairly benefiting the rich. In yesterday's story about the renewal of the penny tax, a reporter actually wrote these words:

"Because the rebate is based on a percentage of someone’s property taxes, the biggest benefits go to the wealthy. One person with a home worth nearly $9 million received a tax credit...worth $22,315.83 in 2017... According to the City, a person with a home valued at $199,000 would receive a tax credit of only $505.46."

Wait. Is the reporter attempting to infer that a person with a $199,000 house should get tens of thousands of dollars in tax credits because someone with a $9 million house does? Let's be clear, after their tax credit, the owner of the smaller house would owe something like a hundred bucks a year (thank you, Tourism). The owner of the bigger house would owe roughly $5,000. And, there's a problem here?